Tools of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion is a very important activity and an integral part of the marketing process. This article has details about the various tools of sales promotion that can help you achieve desired sales targets for your products.

Charlie S

The business environment today has become very competitive because of the rising number of companies offering multiple products to the consumer. Today's customer is spoiled for choice and hence, only companies that have the right kind of product mix can increase their market share. By being aware of the several strategies of promoting sales, the company can achieve its goals comfortably and increase the popularity of its products to a great extent.

Sales Promotion Tools

Offering Products for Free

Offering company-manufactured products for free for a specified period like a few days or months, could be one of the finest tools of sales promotion. In this period, the customers can use and test the company's products and decide for themselves whether the products are useful or not. The customers pay for the products later, and provide the company feedback about the product quality. This can also be called test marketing of a product.

Distributing Free Samples

Many a time, when you go to a shop to purchase some essential products, you are given free items for trial. As a promotional strategy, you may even receive these items without buying high-quality goods from the shop. Distribution of such samples is one of the techniques of introducing a product into the market to get an idea of customer expectations.

Exhibitions and Fairs

This is one of the most successful marketing techniques for already-introduced goods as well as new goods. Exhibitions can be arranged in major locations in the city, generally in the most popular areas, to attract maximum customers to the venue. For this method to work, the company needs to advertise the exhibition in different media and give an idea of the kind of goods kept for sale/display.

Competitions and Contests

Competitions can be a fun way of promoting products. You can organize online or in-house competitions in which you ask questions related to your product. You can award your winners with trophies and certificates or gift them your products to increase its awareness. Scratch-and-win offers and quizzes are some other promotional tactics which you can try out.

Discount Coupons

For a company to succeed in achieving its sales targets, understanding buyer psychology is very essential. A buyer always looks for discounts and is always interested in schemes which offer quality products at attractive rates as compared to the prevailing market rates. So, distributing discount coupons by publishing them in newspapers, leading and popular magazines, or handing them over personally to customers, would be a good idea to boost the sales of certain selected products. Offering discounts can help you attract customers who have not bought your products earlier.

Money Back and Warranty Offers

When a buyer pays you for the goods purchased, he expects products that are long-lasting. However, in the course of their use, if he finds that there are some technical faults in the product or it is not as useful as shown in promotional campaigns or advertisements, he would feel cheated. To avoid this negative feeling, money back schemes can work wonders. You can assure the customers that your company executives will look into the faults and correct them immediately so that they turn up to buy the products later. Offering a few years of warranty (more than what is offered by competitors) can be useful for getting more customers.

Exchange Offer

In an exchange offer, the customer gets a particular product for a price which is less than its actual price if he gives the company the old product which he is currently using. Such offers can help draw customers in huge numbers who are interested in buying technologically advanced and new products.

Implementing the above-mentioned promotional activities professionally will enable any company to achieve its sales targets and goals.